Change-paying mechanism



July 26, 1938. 5. J. BACHARDY 51 9 CHANGE-PAYING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 17, 1935 3 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I 47 T51 wfiiiilliiim 50 I 9 9M, AK l ATTORNEYS July 26, 1938. 5. J. BACHARDY 2,125,059

' I CHANGE-PAYING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 17, 1953 4 sheets-sheet 2 ATTORNEYS July 26, 1938. s. J. BACHARDY CHANGE-PAYING mncrmmsm 4 Sheets-Sheet 3- Filed Feb. 17, 1933 July 26,- 1938. s. J. BACHARDY 2,125,059

- crimes-PAYING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 17, 1933' 4 Sheefs-Sheet 4 47 v ATTORNEYS Patented July 26, 1938 UNITED STATES CHANGE-PAYING MECHANISM Stephen J. Bachardy, Allentown, Pa., assignor to Monex Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application February 17, 1933, Serial No. 657,224

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to change-paying apparatus of the direct acting type, more especially designed for drivers of busses but useful in any of various relations in which change is to be expeditiously made.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a mechanism of the above type characterized by simplicity, compactness, ruggedness and of low manufacturing cost.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of the above type by which the coins are positively ejected by manual action directly applied, and with a minimum of friction or spring resistance, and in which the danger of escape of coins under vibration or tilting action in use, is yet effectively.

precluded.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of the above type in which the frictional resistance of the parts engagingthe coins is reduced to a minimum so that a minimum number of light springs alone are required to automatically return the mechanism to home position after each direct thrust operation thereon.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of the above type in which change in any multiple of five cents up to $1.00-anay be selectively paid, each by a single thrust operation utilizing at most two fingers.

A feature of the invention is the correlation of a multi-stack magazine with thrust operated ejectors, to push coins rearward from the bottoms of the respective stacks; selective manual operating means simultaneously and directly engaging those of the ejectors controlling the coins to be ejected.

Another feature is the use of impositive resilient coin obstructing means at the bottoms of the respective stacks to prevent inadvertent dropping of coins through the outlets, the coin ejector serving to push the selected coin or coins past the resilient obstruction.

Another feature is the provision of a sliding coin ejector for each of the several coin stacks,

7, said sliding element directly engaged by selective transverse plates in front thereof, each plate having a key of the coin value corresponding to that of the coin stacks with which the coin' ejectors directly actuated thereby are coordinated.

Another object is the composite construction of each coin ejector as a sliding carrier and a pivoted pusher lever thereon retained by gauge means to engage only the lowermost coin or coins of the stack.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of one embodiment thereof;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the position of the parts in operation;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view, taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional detail view, taken on line 6-45 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the coin latching springs;

Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 7 of a modification thereof;

Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional view, taken on line 99 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 10 is a transverse sectional view, taken on line Illlil of Fig. 3;

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a selective plate, and;

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a coin ejector.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a support plate 20. Upon this plate there is preferably removably mounted a multiple stack coin magazine M. This magazine, which is preferably made of a single aluminum die casting, is illustratively shown with five stack compartments including a half dollar stack H, a quarter stack Q, two nickel stacks N and N and a dime stack D. The magazine unit rests upon the support plate to which it is preferably removably secured by any desired means (not shown). The rear wall of each stack compartment of the magazine is cut away at its bottom, as at 2!, and the support has circular outlet apertures H0, Q0. No, and Do, under the respective coin stacks, the forward edges of which outlet apertures extend directly under the rear walls of the respective magazine stacks, as best shown in Figs. 3 and 5 of the drawings. The various discharge apertures in the support base 20, all communicate with a discharge chute 22, which may be welded, riveted or otherwise incorporated with the support plate, said chute extending forward, as shown, to discharge the ejected coins into the palm of the hand held thereunder.

The support plate also carries coin ejectors for the respective compartments of the magazine, each coin ejector being preferably of the construction shown in, Fig. 12. Each coin ejector comprises a carrier bar 25 having integral there- With a conformation at which a pushing impulse screws 43.

may be applied thereto and comprising preferably a downturned arm 26. The side of each ejector carrier bar 25 has pivotally mounted at 21, the ear 28 of a coin pusher lever 29, which projects rearwardly from the carrier. Preferably, as best shown in Figs. 5 and 12, the stock of the carrier is reduced to accommodate the thickness of the pusher bar, the outer surface of which comes flush with the corresponding face of the carrier bar. The rear edge or nose 3!] of the lever is preferably beveled downward, as shown.

The support plate 20 is provided with elon gated tracks 3| in each of which rides one of the coin ejectors, each arm 26 protruding downward through a corresponding slot 32 insaid plate. A coil spring 33 is housed within each track at the rear end thereof, normally to urge the corresponding ejector carrier forward. A cover plate 35 affixed by pins 36 to the support 28 encloses the various coin ejectors, and affords longitudinal slots 3-! through which the upper part of the width of each ejector lever 29 extends. A leaf spring 40 is preferably lodged in a corresponding slit 4| in the ear 28 of the pusher lever rod and by reaction against the carrier bar 25 biases the lever upward, into contact with a limiting gauge plate 42 extending transversely across the cover plate 35, and secured to the latter by The gauge plate has milled slots 44 accurately determining the effective height of the nose 30 of each pusher lever so that the latter, as best shown in Fig. 3 will engage only the lowermost coin of the corresponding stack.

For operating the coin ejectors, key operated selective mechanism is preferably provided. In a preferred embodiment the selective mechanism comprises a series of parallel selective plates 45, one of which is illustratively shown in perspective view in Fig. 11. The selective plate comprises a metal stamping having a shank 45 mounting a key 41. The plate 45 is notched at 48 and is provided with effective operating edges 49 directly to engage and actuate the corresponding coin ejectors at arms 26 thereof. Preferably the plates 45 re mounted in horizontal parallel relation by extending their respective shanks 46 in longitudinally spaced relation and in two rows, as appears best from Figs. 1 and 3, through a thick wall 50- protruding downward from the support plate 20. The keys 41, as shown, are stepped vertically to accommodate the respective thicknesses of and spaces between theplates 45 which are disposed in close contiguity and parallel to each other, as appears in Fig. 3.

As shown in the drawings, it is preferred to provide fourteen keys, each having a coin value including a five cent key, a' fifteen cent key, and three further keys, preferably of different color, controlling respectively ejection of a dime, a quarter, and a half dollar. The forty cent key,

\ shown in Fig. 11, for instance, would have its plate 45 formed with lugs to engage the ejector of the quarter, the dime and one of the nickel slots so that upon pushing this key the corresponding plate 45 will directly engage the arms 26: of the corresponding ejectors and no others, a

and will push said bars 25 rearward against the resistance of the corresponding springs 33, causing the corresponding pusher arms 29 to push the corresponding coins from under their respective stacks through openings Q, D and N into thechute 22' to drop into the operators palm.

For ejecting forty-five cents, the operator would merely straddle two fingers to engage the forty and the five cent key, depressing both simultaneously, thereby causing in addition to the above operation to effect ejection of a nickel from the other nickel slot under control of the selector plate afiixed to the five cent key.

In the operation set forth, it will be seen that the thrust is directly applied from the key and its plate to the ejector, which in turn directly engages the coin, and the entire movement is therefore rectilinear and direct without resort to complicated lever or spring constructions. Thus a. relatively weak spring 33 serves to return the coin ejector and the selective plate to home position after operation and is not called upon to effect any coin ejection. The touch of the machine accordingly is light, and the likelihood of jamming or buckling incurred Where elongated levers or heavy springs are used is substantially precluded.

In the absence of precautions other than those thus far described, it is possible, particularly under vibration of the moving bus on which the device finds a preferred application, and especially when such bus moves down-grade that coins from the bottoms of the stacks will drop gravitationally through the outlet apertures in the support plate. To preclude such loss of coins, it is preferred to provide resilient coin arresting means to engage the lowermost coin of each stack. In a preferred embodiment'such means comprises a spring latch, as best shown in Figs. 5 and 7, which may include a pair of arcuate leaf springs and 56 afiixed in the respective bases of the coin stack casting and extending peripherally substantially flush with the inner wall of the coin stack compartment to partially embrace the lowermost coin. The free ends of the companion springs are shown. spaced by a distance less than the diameter of the corresponding coin. Thus the springs impositively resist sliding rearward movement of the lowermost coin, but under the action of the pusher lever 29 the coin forces said springs apart and then passes through the outlet aperture. After the coin has passed the springs they snap back to original position to partially embrace the next coin of the stack which drops into place ther'ebetween. V

In order to dispense with the need for two dime stacks, means is preferably provided to permit the ejection alternatively of one or two dimes from the same dime stack. For this purpose two coin ejectors 29 and 29 instead of only one are provided infront of the dime stack and the corresponding milled slot for the two dime ejectors iscorrespondingly deeper, as at 44' than for the single dime ejector so that movement of said lat ter ejector will cause the nose 35 thereof to engage the twolowermost coins of the dime stack and. to push them both out of place. It is preferred to'form' the resilient impositive coin holder ofwidth substantially equal to the thickness of two coins and bifurcated, as shown at 58 in Fig. 7, so that the upper segment 55 of said spring will retain its friction hold on the next tothe lowermost dime, while the one dime ejector pushes out only the lowermost dime. In the drawings, such duplicate arrangement of ejectors is also shown for the quarter slot and for each of the nickel slots, as this is required for the necessary fiexibility of the mechanism with the minimum number of compartments shown.

The use of the pivoted pusher lever 25 mounted on the carrier 28 therefor is advantageous in obviating the possibility of jamming or friction with. respect to the coin stack in the return movement of said parts. Thus spring 33 can be of lighter construction than if the pusher element were made of one integral unitary piece, although such construction comes well within the scope of the invention.

As an alternative to the leaf spring of Fig. 7 there is shown in Fig. 8 a pivoted latch 60 urged toward the coin by a spring such as a coil spring 6| reacting against the wall of the casing. The pivoted end of the latch 60 contacts the wall in its limiting position, as at 62 to extend flush with the inner wall of the coin compartment so that the latch can pivotoutward in the advance movement of the coin but is limited in its inward movement as shown, and this will not impede the dropping of the next coin into place after the lowermost coin has been ejected.

In Fig. 3 is shown a view of a preferred form of cover 64 for the mechanism which may be of sheet metal and affords a Window 65 through which the stacks may be seen, the top of said cover having coin slots 66 registering with the respective coin magazine compartments.

It will be noted that the keyboard, as shown in Fig. l, is so arranged that the operator may concurrently depress two keys, either horizontally or vertically aligned, with the thumb while placing the palm of the same hand under the chute and thus cause ejection of coins aggregating in value the sum of the coin value of the two keys. Thus by depressing the two vertically aligned fifty cent keys, a half dollar and two quarters will be ejected. By depressing the vertically aligned twenty and eighty cent keys, a half dollar, a quarter and two dimes and one nickel will be ejected. By depressing the vertically aligned seventy and the five cent keys, two quarters, two dimes and one nickel will be ejected. By depressing the vertically aligned fifteen and ten cent keys, five nickels will be ejected. By depressing the horizontally aligned twenty-five and 'fifty cent keys, a half dollar and a quarter will be ejected. By depressing the horizontally aligned thirty and twenty cent keys, there will be ejected a quarter, two dimes and a nickel, and by depressing the horizontally aligned five and fifteen cent keys, four nickels will be ejected. It will be thus seen that the mechanism described lends itself to a wide choice and selection, in every case by a single thrust, in the selection of denominations of coins to make up change.

It will thus be seen that there is herein described apparatus in which the several features of this invention are embodied, and Which apparatus in its action attains the various objects of the invention and is well suited to meet the requirements of practical use.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

i. In a change-paying apparatus of the class described, a support plate, a coin magazine, said sup-port plate having ejector carrier bar receiving recesses therein and an elongated opening in the bottom of each recess, ejector carrier bars slidably disposed in said recesses, said bars each having a downwardly-projecting arm extending through the elongated opening aforesaid, spring means for moving said bars in one direction, a cover plate disposed over said support plate for retaining said bars in said recesses and having coin pusher lever guide slots formed therein, a coin pusher lever projecting upwardly from each of said ejector carrier bars through one of said guide slots in the cover plate and engaging one end of said slot to limit the movement of said carrier bars in one direction, and a notched selector plate slidably disposed beneath said support plate for effecting coin ejecting movement of said ejector carrier bars.

2. In a change-paying apparatus of the class described, a support plate, a coin magazine, said support plate having ejector carrier bar receiving recesses therein and an elongated opening in the bottom of each recess, ejector carrier bars slidably disposed in said recesses, said bars each having a downwardly-projecting arm extending through theelongated opening aforesaid, spring means for moving said bars in one direction, a cover plate disposed over said support plate for retaining said bars in said recesses and having coin pusher lever guide slots formed therein, a coin pusher lever projecting upwardly from each of said ejector carrier bars through one of said guide slots in the cover plate and engaging one end of said slot to limit the movement of said carrier bars in one direction, a notched selector plate slidably disposed beneath said support plate for effecting coin ejecting movement of said ejector carrier bars, and a gauge plate arranged above said cover plate for guiding engagement with said coin pusher levers.

STEPHEN J. BACHARDY. 

